Marcelo Rojo, a UFC featherweight and coach to incoming flyweight title challenger, Brandon Moreno, has posted numerous racist images aimed at current flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueiredo — in which Rojo has replaced Figueiredo’s face with that of a monkey.
Rojo, 32, made numerous posts on his official Instagram account during the pre-fight press conference last night ahead of UFC 263 this weekend in Glendale, Arizona — replacing Figueiredo with an image of a monkey. Rojo’s account has since been switched from public to private.
The Argentine native posted on his story, a picture of Figueiredo speaking during last night’s press event, with the Para native’s face replaced by a superimposed image of a monkey, with the caption reading; “@daico_deusdaguerra that push only show fear.” Figueiredo, who had spoken critically of Moreno during the event went on to push the Baja California challenger in the chest during the face-offs after the press conference.
On his story, Rojo features another image of Figueiredo, who is once more replaced by a superimposed image of a monkey, whilst a follower posts; “The Brazilian monkey doesn’t know English.” while another asks Rojo to point his camera to UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya.
In a third post from Rojo, he posts a picture of a monkey carrying a stick, wearing jewelry and dressed in a coat and pants — alluding to Figueiredo, posting; “Let’s teach him who the real tough guy is.“
In another post, Rojo reshared a message which read; “Mexicans came from Indians, Brazilians from the jungle and Argentines arrived in boats from Europe. I wish a couple of monkeys like Cafu (former AS Roma, A.C. Milan footballer and 2002 FIFA World Cup winner with Brazil) and Ronaldo (former FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, and Real Madrid footballer and 2002 FIFA World Cup winner with Brazil) had come from the jungle and we had won five World Cups. Unfortunately, people with YouTuber faces like the son of a thousand p*** arrived here on European boats. of Foyth“ (in reference to Argentine national team defender and Villarreal player, Juan Foyth.) (H/T Combate)
Rojo has competed once under the UFC’s banner, dropping a third round knockout defeat to Charles Jourdain at UFC Vegas 21 in March in his promotional debut. Rojo is currently booked to fight Kevin Croom at UFC Vegas 36 in August. As of writing, the UFC are yet to make an official statement regarding Rojo’s posts.